The old age of science fiction cinema is both an honored history that modern creators love to reference and draw inspiration from, as well as a target of good-natured mockery. Putting the future on the big screen was tough to do sixty or seventy years ago, especially without the budget or technological capabilities required to build a whole new world.
In 1933, before the enforcement of the dreaded Hayes Code the following year, RKO Radio Pictures released the seminal horror masterpiece, King Kong. The impact of that giant ape expanded far beyond the city he tried to destroy. Giant monster movies became one of the most enduring sub-genres of science fiction and horror cinema, but their heyday was the 50s and 60s. These are some of the best monster designs from that era.
Gamera
Though King Kong was the catalyst for the monster movie boom of the era, this towering turtle owes its existence to the other King of the Monsters. In 1965, Daiei Film, now known as Kadokawa Daiei Studios, needed an answer to Ishiro Honda's groundbreaking 1954 kaiju film Gojira. Their first attempt fell flat due to safety issues on set, but their second attempt was Gamera, the Giant Monster.
There have been 12 Gamera films, but the first is the only one to hit the big screen in the United States. The beauty of Gamera's design is more complex than his initial appearance. He's a giant bipedal turtle with tusks and clawed hands. He breathes fire in much the same way Godzilla emits radioactive lasers, but his capabilities go beyond that. Gamera can retract his body into his shell and emit his fire breath to fly, spinning like a Beyblade through the sky at fighter-jet speeds. Gamera is a unique and interesting design with some great on-screen moments, and he deserves more than being seen as an off-brand Godzilla.
The Blob
Largely overshadowed by its 1988 remake, Irvin Yeaworth's 1958 opus was one of the most influential sci-fi horror films of its era. The eponymous blob is a limbless mass of non-specific gooey matter that eats any living thing it comes into contact with. It first appears in a dull shade of red but becomes more brilliantly crimson as it consumes human beings. That small aspect is a clever, slightly subversive embrace of the gore that have been forbidden at the time due to the Hayes Code.
The Blob is influential as both a monster and as a film; there are countless iterations of the all-consuming goo that have spawned from this work. From the counter-cultural take in The Stuff to more comedic takes like Yahtzee Croshaw's Jam, The Blob was a groundbreaking moment for the genre.
Ymir – 20 Million Miles to Earth
No list of movie monsters would be complete without the work of Ray Harryhausen. This 1957 sci-fi horror epic was created with the express purpose of showing off the master's stop-motion animation work. Though the beast doesn't have an official name in the film, it was referred to in the original pitch as The Giant Ymir.
Ymir is a sort of towering gill-man with a long serpentine tail and protruding fangs. Its unique noise was created by speeding up elephant sounds. While the film built around the monster isn't particularly special, the monster itself moves with an otherworldly gait that made it iconic. Ymir isn't the most recognizable movie monster, but it is one of the best-crafted beasts of its era.
The Mollusks – The Monster That Challenged the World
This era was dominated by animals made massive; every other entry in the genre was a big version of an animal people see every day. Despite its absolutely stellar title, The Monster That Challenged the World is one such film. Its central threats are referred to as mollusks, but the central one is a 10-foot-long centipede beast.
Though not exactly creative, this life-size beast is brought to life in motion. Unlike many films of the era, this creature wasn't brought to the screen using a miniature. Instead, this towering insect is a model that thrashes about and bites with unpleasant force thanks to solid practical effects. It's not a new idea, but it's so well-executed that this mollusk stands out amongst many of the other giant insects of the era.
The Crawling Eye – The Trollenberg Terror
This 1958 sci-fi horror film was first released under the name The Crawling Eye, after its central horror. The plot concerns a thick unexplained fog that hides a nightmarish creature. The creature in question is a disgusting mass of flesh, marked with a single eye, moving via a hive of writhing tentacles.
For 1958, it's genuinely revolting. The film didn't have the budget to put the beast in too much of its runtime, but when it does appear, it's a deeply unpleasant sight. This film, like other standouts of the era, is better known for the episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 made out of it, but fans of 50s monster movies should seek out both.